Villa Danieli is an award winning Italian Restaurant in Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel. The originality of Italian cuisine can be savoured in Villa Danieli as the freshest and best ingredients are used to create wonders to the meal.

The restaurant has a homely and romantic ambiance with wooden furnishings and colourful mural that gives the richness of Italy.

Speaking of the colorful mural, I love how lively it is portrayed, with a kid running free under table while the mom is trying to catch him/her and all the happy faces on everyone; laughing and enjoying food the restaurant.

When dining at Villa Danieli, one can expect to have a great dining experience as Italian Chef de Cuisine, Alessandro Grazoisi cooks up authentic and traditional Italian favourites.

As this month of February marks Chef Alessandro’s first anniversary with Villa Danieli and in celebration to that, Chef has created a special menu with his personal renditions of authentic, traditional Italian dishes. Available for lunch and dinner, this special menu features a wide variety. From savoury Buffalo Mozzarella`s Burrata with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes Salad to flavoursome The Chef`s Fresh Egg Fettuccini with Pan Seared Boston Lobster. Succumb to temptations when dessert arrives. Our signature Tiramisu and Rosemary Crème Brulee complete the exquisite experience on an almost magical note.

We were honoured to have Jim Liaw joining us for dinner. Thanks to Jim, we had first hand “workshop” of food photography highlighted with lighting usage and angles. Hence, in this post, your eyes will have a feast of wonderful food photography as well as mouth watering menu Villa Danieli is offering in this month.

While waiting for the courses, we were treated to freshly baked bread of the day. There were three different types of Italian bread; fresh bread, charcoal bread and bread stick served with Sun-dried tomatoes & extra virgin olive oil dip. Among all the bread, bread stick is my favourite and is the most easy going with the dip.

The dip tasted like bolognese with no meat. It’s simply addictive!

Like any Italian fine dining, we started off with “Antipasto” (Italian appetizer). The first antipasta salad we had was the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio. The raw Wagyu beef is served along with White Asparagus, Parmesan Cheese Mousse and Roasted Pine Nuts, Arugula and celeriac marinade with honey balsamic reduction and salt flakes.

Next, we have this poached egg looking dish which is actually Buffalo Mozzarella Burrata served on a bed of Roasted Cherry Tomatoes Salad in Mediterranean style. Simply adore this as I love cheese a lot! The Buffalo Mozzarella is not too rich nor creamy and paired with the roasted cherry tomatoes just keep you going at it!

The cod fish were well seasoned and I couldn’t help but kept forking for more of it!

Check out this fat juicy Poached King Prawns Salad Catalana style! Casually decorated with Iced Crispy Vegetables and Black Tomato Strawberry Coulis with Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Each bite screams for more! At this rate, I could just feast on all the Antipasto alone! They were all so yummy! *Not putting down the fork*

In any full course meal, there’s always soup in the menu. In our case, we had a share of two types of soups; Wild Mushrooms Soup Truffle with crispy Shimeiji mushrooms and Ricotta Cheese Mousse and Spicy Broccoli Cream with Saute Rock Lobster and Fried Charcoal Bread.

Both the soup are delicious and flavourful in their own ways. The wild mushroom soup is simply rich and creamy, meanwhile the spicy broccoli cream is something new to everyone. It’s spicy and unique and goes very well with the charcoal bread.

As soon as we’re done with the Zuppe (soup), all the Paste (pasta) started to pour in (served to the table very fast) and we had to quickly takepicha of them, so that we could start digging in as each and every one of them looks so good and smells even better!

Villa Danieli’s Seafood Spaghetti which looks simple but it is simply addictive with it’s clear tomato sauce and fresh seafood and not forgetting the basil leaves which gives it a sweet mild peppery taste.

Rigatoni Pasta with Spicy creamy beef ragout Florentine style garnished with fresh basil and chilli extra virgin olive oil. Although the portion may seem small, but this is definitely to be shared. It’s very rich and creamy.

Ravioli ai Quattro formaggi in salsa di noci is four Cheese Ravioli served with walnut sauce. I’m no fan of ravioli because I don’t like the thick pasta and most of the ravioli I had in the past are either too thick with little filling or that the ravioli is not fully cooked which made it so hard to eat. However, Chef’s Cheese Ravioli are awesome! Creamy on the inside and nicely paired with the walnut sauce and crunchy pine nuts.

The Linguine with King Tiger Prawns served with roasted cherry tomatoes and arugula is one of my favourite pasta. I just love prawns, what more King Tiger Prawns for its fresh juicy flesh! Not many people fancy arugula or better known as rocket salad because it has a strong smell which many describes it as skunky and some would describe the taste like soap? To me, arugula is aromatic and I love it, and I find this pasta well balanced.

If you think the Linguine with King Tiger Prawns is consider luxurious, wait till you taste the Chef’s Fresh Egg Fettucine with pan seared Boston Lobster!

Saffron Risotto with meltingly tender beef cheek and crispy leek looks like Nasi Kunyit topped with beef rendang. Chef would probably shoot me dead for saying that. Saffron Risotto is a traditional Italian risotto with saffron in it and not many restaurants make good risotto like Villa Danieli. Looking for a good risotto with a bonus tender succulent beef to go with it, this is where you should be heading.

Red Mullet and broccoli squid ink Cannelloni with cauliflower and clams spicy chowder. This is a new dish to me as I’ve never tried anything Cannelloni (cylindrical pasta). Unlike the other types of pasta, this is special and unique.

Another must have in Villa Danieli is none other than their Pizza! After all, pizza is originated from Italy. All the more must have

Bufalina is a simple like pizza with tomato sauce based and topped with oven roasted cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and buffalo mozzarella.

Looking at all the Italian galore we had earlier, one would think that there’s no possible way to stuff more food in each and everyone of us! But, when it comes to desserts, there’s always room for them

This is Chef’s Super Chocolate Combination. It consists of Chocolate ice-cream and chocolate mousse with cocoa and syrup.

I’m so in love very much and I’m posting more than 2 pichas of it because I can. The chocolate mousse is very rich and thick and best of all, it is made of BITTER DARK CHOCOLATE. *died happy*

Every bite of this is like having an orgasm in my mouth. Just so good.

Tiramisu is a traditional Italian dessert made of Savoiardi (ladyfingers cookie) dipped in coffee (or coffee liquor) and layered with Mascarpone cheese and whipped egg yolks. I know this much because I love digging into Tiramisu, not just for the layer of cheese but the liquored cookies :3

Villa Danieli serves Tiramisu in this cone shaped glass. I don’t mind having two servings of this. Although this is not the best Tiramisu I had in town (probably because the chocolate already dominated my tastebud), it is still a decent Tiramisu.

Signature Tiramisu

Rosemary Creme Brulee

Unlike the many Creme Brulee I’ve tasted, this is by far the most aromatic one I ever had. The difference between this Creme Brulee and others is the additional Rosemary in it which adds a tinge or Rosemary fragrant.

Well, that basically sums up the most of Chef Alessandro’s First Anniversary Celebration Menu.

Don’t just drool looking at all the mouth watering pichas of all the Italian yummies above, hurry and book a date to savour this exquisite dining experience, which will be ongoing for the whole month of February at Villa Danieli. This celebrative ala carte menu is priced at RM38++ per dish onwards. The promotion is available for:

Lunch (Mondays to Fridays): 12 noon – 2.30pm; and

Dinner (Mondays to Saturdays): 6.30pm – 10.30pm.

For more information or to make reservations, please contact Villa Danieli at +603 2717 9900 (ext 6922) or e-mail to restauarants.imperial@sheraton.com.